Chapter 2
It was early when mom woke up. She was snugly warm and toasty, sleeping next to dad in the warm sleeping bag, but her nose was freezing, and she could see her breath when she blew it out, even in the tent.
She struggled to turn over in the tight space, and Dad whispered, “Are you awake, honey?”
“Mmmmm,” she mumbled. “Kind of. How did you sleep?”
“Great, but I’m ready to get up now! I didn’t want to wake you before, but now that you’re awake, how about going for a walk with me. You’ve got to see the property!”
“What about the kids?” Mom whispered. “They’ll sleep for a long time, still. It was late when we finally got them down last night.”
“The folks are up,” Dad answered. “They won’t mind keeping an eye on them while we’re gone. It will only take a minute to walk down to the place.”
“Aren’t we going to drive?” Eleanor was surprised.
“There’s no reason to,” he said. “It’s not far, and if we start the truck we might wake up the kids.”
They were careful not to make any noise as they got out of their sleeping bags and dressed. As they crawled out of the tent, mom saw that Grandpa Russell had already started a fire, and Grandma was sitting in a chair by it, reading.
“You’re up early,” Dad greeted her.
“It’s a glorious morning!” Grandma replied. “ I couldn’t stay in bed.”
“Do you mind if we take a walk down the road so I can show Eleanor the place?” he asked. “The kids are in bed, and will probably stay asleep for a while.”
“That will be fine,” Grandma answered. “They are probably exhausted, but if they wake up, I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Thanks,” Dad said as he grabbed Mom’s hand and pulled her past the tents and headed towards the road.
“I wish you could have seen the place last night, but there wouldn’t have been much point, it was so dark.”
“It’s OK, honey. We tried as hard as we could, but there really wasn’t any way to get here before dark. I’m surprised we were able to get off as soon as we did.”
“I know. It wasn’t too bad setting up camp after dark, though. Except for being cold.”
Mom shook her head, but didn’t say anything. Last night had been a nightmare as far as she was concerned. It had been dark and cold, and the kids had wanted to get out of the truck and play, but she had made them stay in the cab until the tents were set up and a fire was started. Even then with the light from lanterns and a roaring bon fire, it had been hard to watch the little ones and keep them from wondering off towards the creek which was rushing by only a few feet away from camp.
“It sure is cold,” was all she said. “I’m surprised. It was so warm at home.”
“It’s still early,” Dad reminded her. “It will probably be very pleasant by this afternoon. Remember it’s only April, even if it does feel like summer back in the valley.”
The weather is funny in Arizona
“I thought you said our place was by the creek?” Mom asked in surprise as they walked north along the road They were climbing a small hill and the creek had disappeared, winding it’s way off to the east.
“It is,” Dad assured her. “The creek turns and follows the road just below here. You just can’t see it all the time.”
They crested out on the top of the hill and Mom stopped to look at an old, gnarled alligator juniper by the side of the road. “What a funny looking tree,” she pointed out to dad. “It almost looks a like a person’s face, doesn’t it?”
Dad laughed and grabbed her hand as they began walking again. “You’re going to love it up here, Eleanor! We are going to have such great times! Now, look over there between the trees. What do you see?”
“It’s the creek!” she exclaimed. “How pretty it is!”
It was, too. Even though the sycamore and black walnut trees were bare of leaves, it was a beautiful scene. The little winding road straightened out here for a spell and ran parallel to the creek. It was rushing merrily, gurgling over big and small rocks, sounding like happy laughter as it gushed its way under a barbed wire fence stretched across the creek between two big white sycamore trees. Old leaves lay on the ground next to large white rocks and black earth. Cedar and juniper trees with blue green needles grew next to huge old oak trees covered with dead looking vines that in summer would become wild grapes.
Mom and Dad walked west around a corner in the road and saw before them a meadow, nestled at the base of a large hill. The road climbed the hill, which was really the west end of a mountain. It was covered with ponderosa pines, tall and stately, stretching up into the early morning sun. The road, and hillside and meadow where still shadowed from the mountain rising on the east.
“This is it,” Dad proclaimed proudly. “The property starts down there by the creek, and includes the meadow, hillside, and the top part of the hill on the west side of the road. Come see.” 
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